Bristol Saved

Idiosyncratic car-builder, Bristol Cars, has been sold by its administrators to Kamkorp Autokraft which is part of the Frazer-Nash group of companies. Kamkorp beat off rival bids from Toby Silverton, Bristol's previous owner, and CPP the Russian-owned, UK-based coachwork specialists that recently acquired Spyker Cars.

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Although Frazer-Nash has inherited the famous car badge that once used Bristol engines, it is now a UK-based research and engineering firm that specializes in electric vehicles and range extender powertrains.

The latter, which uses a small capacity Wankel rotary engine, was first seen in the ItalDesign Namir concept at the 2009 Geneva Auto Show. A more realistic demonstrator, based on a Far-eastern manufactured MPV, was also built and a brief drive of it last summer was enough to prove that this type of application could prove to be the Wankel engine's salvation. The demonstrator mule used a 407cc Wankel, as used in drones but optimized for this application, and ran at a constant speed of about 3000rpm to minimize rotor tip wear.

In recent years Bristol had virtually stopped making cars with, apparently, the last car being manufactured in 2008; since then it had been little more than a servicing and restoration business for the existing fleet of cars.

Little is known of Frazer-Nash plans for the marque, beyond a prepared statement from William Chia, the group's director of operations who said: "Bristol Cars is a British institution and an important part of our national motoring heritage. Over the next few months we will start to reveal the details of our plans to combine Bristol Cars' tradition and iconic marque with Frazer-Nash's pioneering technology to showcase our cutting-edge electric and range-extended powertrains. British engineers are globally recognized for their inventions and the quality of their innovation – and these attributes are inherent in all our systems and products. Mindful of Bristol Cars' rich heritage and our responsibility as custodians of the brand, we are certain that our technology will blend seamlessly and successfully with the Bristol Cars tradition of engineering integrity."

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So a range extender Bristol? Sounds more sensible than plans for the 1000 bhp, 210 mph Fighter model they were once touting around.

But, as Victor Mueller has discovered with Saab, buying a car company is the easy bit; it's designing, manufacturing and selling the products whilst there's no income that's the really tough challenge.

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